If you’re like me, you’ve long since lost track of the Game of Thrones spinoffs that are supposedly happening. Some have already been shelved, others are moving forward, and at this point I’m just waiting for them to show up on TV. Well, for those of you who are earnestly following news on this stuff, George R.R. Martin has just revealed that three new projects are underway, and they’re all animated.
Martin revealed the news on his blog while discussing his love for Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai series. I hear that’s good. Anyway, Martin used that time to confirm that Game of Thrones is about to be animated, too.
“As it happens, HBO and I have our own animated projects, set in the world of [‘Game of Thrones’],” wrote Martin. “None of them have been greenlit yet, but I think we are getting close to taking the next step with a couple of them. When this last round of development started a few years back, we had four ideas for animated shows, with some great talents attached. Writers rooms and summits, outline and scripts followed in due course… but, alas, two of the original projects were subsequently shelved.”
He added, “Work on the other two animated projects continues apace, however…and meanwhile, we have moved, ‘Nine Voyages,’ our series about the legendary voyages of the Sea Snake, over from live action to animation. A move I support fully. Budgetary constraints would likely have made a live action version prohibitively expensive, what with half the show taking place at sea, and the necessity of creating a different port every week, from Driftmark to Lys to the Basilisk Isles to Volantis to Qarth to… well, on and on and on. There’s a whole world out there. And we have a lot better chance of showing it all with animation. So we now have three animated projects underway.”
We’ll see if HBO decides to move forward on all of them, or if something will fall short. To their credit, HBO hasn’t green lit everything Game of Thrones that has come their way, and they’ll likely play it safe here, too.
Martin seems to agree, answering his own question about all three projects moving forward with “No way to know. Nothing is certain in Hollywood.”
True indeed.
The second season of House of the Dragon arrives this summer.
